It’s been almost a decade (seven years) since we traveled to the National Cohousing Conference in Boulder Colorado to learn about how to build our own community in Nashville, Tennessee. We’ve come full circle now with the Conference to be held in Nashville this week.

Back then two of us traveled to Boulder and met two other individuals from Nashville, also attending. They were taking a driving tour through the southwest looking for cohousing. We were surprised to run into other Nashvillians in Boulder that weekend!

A few days ago, to my amusement, I learned that cohousing shares a lot of principles with many African cultures. This happened over (way too many) drinks with a filmmaker called Alan O’Hashi following a dinner party at a cohousing community in the small town of Memel, amidst the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa. In fact, I also found out that this is the first and only cohousing community in South Africa (and I assume for most of Africa?) (Why???!).

Grace Farm is a group of friends, with an average age of about 35, who have been exposed to community living through a few different experiences and have been motivated to potentially start our own cohousing community. The 10 founding members of Grace Farm have experienced community living most notably from our time at Bethlehem Farm, an intentional community in the mountains of West Virginia with a mission of service and outreach to the people of Appalachia.

We were surprised but pleased when a boat load of people arrived just as we opened our doors for the Cohousing Open House Day on April 29th. We had steady visitors for most of our four hours. Nobody was counting, but we estimate 50-60 folks came, which was great!

No, not that president! Peter Lazar, president of the National Cohousing Association, has led the board this year in the ever-growing cohousing movement to create better communities across the country. And, he will greet you graciously when upon arrival at the National Cohousing Conference May 19-21.

I’m really excited for the National Cohousing Conference, May 19 - 21, in Nashville, TN. Cohousing as a model is growing and evolving at a rapid pace, and this is great news for intentional communities and cooperative ventures everywhere. Cohousing communities have long been on the forefront of dealing with financial institutions, zoning officials, and developers, all people who are steeped in practices antithetical to what the community is trying to create.